Hearts boss has Toto faith in African ace

The Tynecastle manager is also confident of finalising the capture of Stephen Elliott from Preston North End this week and intends handing the Irishman a debut against St Johnstone in Saturday's SPL opener.

As Elliott watched from the stand, Toto played the final 16 minutes of Hearts' 1-1 draw with Blackburn Rovers on Saturday and impressed Jefferies after three reserve friendlies in which he scored six times.

"Toto didn't look out of place. A couple of things didn't come off for him but he looks the part," he said. "I don't think we've got anything to lose by keeping him because I think there's raw potential there. He definitely has something and he's worth persevering with. I'll be recommending that he stays. He just turned 20 in March so he's still very young and there's a still a lot to come from him. We will give him the opportunity. It might be that, if he doesn't look ready for the first-team yet, you still have the option to stick him out on loan to get more game. Then you think about him at Christmas.

"What I like about him is he's put away six goals in the three other games he played, and he put them away well. None of them were easy tap-ins."

Elliott is expected to sever his ties with Preston in the next 48 hours, leaving the striker free to join Hearts. "It's up to him to sort out his side of things. He's taking a big drop in salary to come here," continued Jefferies. "The signs are good, he could be here very soon and I'd like to have him in the team for Saturday."